Edgell happy with car speed but not with officials

Though he had a mixed weekend in the rain-lashed BNT NZ V8s round at Manfeild, Chesters Ford Falcon racer, Tim Edgell, came away happy with his car’s pace in both the wet and the dry.

He slid off the road early in the wet first race last Saturday, dropping to the back of the field. "It was a shame," he said. "We definitely had the potential to run there and I made it a tough weekend for myself."

Sunday’s first race was a blinder, with Edgell charging from the back of the grid to 16th on lap one and getting into the top 10 a lap later.

The out came the safety car, bunching up the field while track workers cleared up an incident.

Drivers are supposed to hold position in single file behind the safety car, but Edgell says one began moving up the order, pulling alongside the Chesters Falcon.

When the race restarted Edgell was caught on the outside going into the first corner and lost position before fighting back to finish ninth.

“It cost me four spots,” he said. “It's a shame the officials didn't get in and sort it out."

In the wet third race, Edgell struggled as the Falcon’s windscreen fogged up. However the race was red flagged when Rotorua driver Paul Pedersen hit a marshals’ post after leaving the circuit.

At the restart Edgell began clawing his way through the field to score another ninth place finish and set the race’s second-fastest lap.

"Ninth was pretty good. We had a nice run for a change," said Tim later. "The best thing is that we had the pace in both the wet and the dry this weekend."